Shoreline
by cheinsaw
Summary: In which Alice is a selkie, and Marisa her human wife.


The town where Alice lives is quiet, a little village at the edge of the sea. It's exactly the way she'd prefer to live, when on land. Nothing ever really happens, and the days always follow a routine. The fishermen leave before dawn, and come back by midday. There's a little market in the center of town where she sometimes sells the clothes she stitches in her free time. It's an easy, sleepy life. But even so, something is missing.

And it's very difficult for Alice to live with part of her self missing.

As a small child she used to be jealous of the humans who lived on land. From the time she was able to shed her seal skin, she would, nervous at first and then growing bolder. She went aground as often as she could, becoming less and less careful. She shed her skin on the shore, and stashed it somewhere she thought it wouldn't be found, until it was stolen. She came back for it, after a day in the sun and warmth on her skin, and it was missing with no trace, leaving her stranded and unable to even touch the ocean.

She's been looking for her seal skin ever since, knowing it has to be somewhere. That's the only thing that's kept her going – her skin must be somewhere. Even if she can't sense it, can't feel the intimate connection with it that she wishes she could, she knows it's out there. She just hopes it isn't lost to her forever, that it hasn't traveled too far for her to find in her lifetime.

In the meantime she's forced to live amongst humans, pretending to be one of them as she secretly pines for the ocean. She has a human partner, a girl named Marisa, who infuriates her at the same time as she makes Alice's heart melt. In the past year they married in a boisterous outdoor ceremony, and neither of them would want it any other way. The ring around Alice's finger is a constant source of comfort, especially when she finds herself staring out into the sea and sadness in her soul.

Marisa's a collector, the cottage they share filled with items from probably all over the world. Alice doesn't know what half of it is, even with the massive amounts of time she's spent reading while on land. It gets difficult to walk sometimes since the house has so many piles, items crammed into shelves and reaching from the floor to the ceiling. Alice has tried to help, but Marisa likes it unorganized, says she knows how to find things that way. And Marisa will kiss her and always make sure that despite the clutter, Alice can find her way.

It would be a pretty good way to live, if only Marisa knew that her wife was not human.

* * *

"I'm home!" Marisa hollers, throwing the front door open.

"Welcome back," Alice calls, not looking up from her sewing.

"Got some more crap today."

"I hope you exchanged money for it."

"Oh, don't worry," Marisa says. From the sound of things Marisa brought home quite a lot, and is trying to find places for it. Alice sighs, gets up, vows to help Marisa get all her newest findings into at least a semi-organized manner.

"So what do you have today?" Alice asks as she faces Marisa.

"I dunno. Some kind of crystal wine glasses, I think? They're really shiny." She holds one up to the light for Alice to see the way they sparkle. "And this seal pelt. Kinda feel bad for the seal but it's super warm."

Alice's eyes go huge. She reaches out to touch it, and it heats up under her fingers. It feels so familiar. She only wants to slip into it and fall back into the gentle ocean waves.

"Alice?"

"That's my skin," Alice says, almost dazed.

Marisa snorts a little, like she thinks Alice is making a joke.

"I'm not kidding," Alice says, softer. She tries with all her heart to resist pulling it out of Marisa's arms.

"This is _literally_ a seal pelt," Marisa says, finally.

Alice can't meet Marisa's eyes as she finally lets the words she's dreamt of saying for years slip out of her mouth. "I'm a selkie."

"You're what?"

"A selkie. I'm a seal in the water and a human on land. But I can't go in the water without my skin."

"That's kinda messed up."

"I'm not joking!" Alice repeats, whining. "I want to know how you got my skin."

"I told you, I just picked it up! I just thought it was a seal skin."

"It is, that's what I'm saying. But it's mine, it's a part of me." She sighs, hair falling in front of her eyes.

"Well, let's bring you back to sea then!"

Alice hasn't taken her fingertips away from the skin. "What?"

"Yeah. You said you wanted to, right? And you haven't been able to get in the water since it got stolen?" Marisa grins. "Definitely go back to the ocean then! Problem solved."

"But then I won't be able to live with you," Alice says, quiet as a whisper and painful as a blade.

Marisa looks down, considering it.

"You know what, Alice?" she says after a long moment. "I love you. I really, really love you. And I want you to be happy. And if that means we have to be apart for a little then it's okay, I'll wait for you."

Alice's eyes flood with tears, and she falls into Marisa's arms.

* * *

The next morning, just after sunrise, when the fishing boats have all left and the town is still asleep, Alice and Marisa walk silently across the beach, holding hands. Marisa carries Alice's seal skin over her shoulders. The shoreline is calm, waves lapping up and drawing back against their feet. Alice wants so badly, more than anything, to dive in right away, to feel the water on her body once more.

"Can you take my ring?" Alice asks, holding it out to Marisa once they stop walking.

Marisa doesn't say anything, just looks hurt, and it feels like a stab through the belly.

"I really want to keep it," Alice explains hastily. "But if I put my skin on I need to be completely naked. It would just fall off and land at the bottom of the ocean. I want you to keep it safe for me." Even though it seems perfectly logical to her, she still feels guilty.

"Yeah, sounds good," Marisa says. She slips it in her pocket, and Alice feels so wrong without it. In exchange, Marisa gives her the seal skin, and they are both quiet, standing amidst the ankle-deep waves in – anticipation? Or, perhaps, not wanting to be separated just yet.

"Hey," Marisa says, and Alice turns around, her skin comfortably heavy on her shoulders at long last. "Look. I'm really..." She makes a small noise. "I'm like, really glad you're getting to do this, you know?"

"Thank you," Alice says softly. "Me too. But I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you more than anythin'. Good luck out there, alright?"

"You too. I'll... come back to see you someday," Alice promises.

Marisa looks down, her wide-brimmed sunhat covering her eyes. When she looks up the corners are shiny with tears, but she's grinning, so Alice pretends not to notice. "You better," Marisa says.

Alice smiles, knowing this is Marisa's way of saying goodbye without making it seem so final and fatal. It's sweet, she thinks, and maybe humans aren't really so bad after all. Or it's just Marisa, who loves her. She lets Marisa watch as she strips off her clothes, shrugs the seal skin over her body, familiar and warm after all this time, and slips easily into the water.

The way she glides into her seal form feels so right, like finally taking off human shoes after a long achy day. The water envelops her, cradles her, and it is perfect. She can twist her body through the waves, just like before. She vows to never, ever let her skin out of her sight again.

And then, Marisa is suddenly there, a warm human body in the cool water, her hair billowing around her shoulders. She swims to Alice, holds her close, presses a sweet, smiling kiss in between Alice's eyes. They drift together, holding each other close without saying a word. And it is enough. Like this, it's all Alice has ever wanted.

* * *

When Marisa finally swims back to the beach, Alice waits for her. She still wants to see Marisa one last time, to see her on land.

She pokes her seal head out of the water, and everything is blurry and too bright, but there's Marisa on the shore, squeezing the water out of her hair. When she sees Alice, she waves enthusiastically with both hands in the air.

"Come back soon!" Alice hears her shout, carried over the sea breeze.

She knows she will.


End file.
